"My Lord God ..."

by Thomas Merton

I have no idea where I am going --
I do not see the road ahead of me,
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think
that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.

I will fear not, for you are ever with me,
and will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Taken from Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar, Strauss, Cudahy, 1956, 58).